(Posted by CAAI News Media)
PHNOM PENH, Dec. 15 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra pledged Tuesday to help Cambodia in agriculture, the first actual move taken by Thaksin since he became an adviser to the Cambodian government on economic affairs nearly two months ago.
During a nearly four-hour lecture to 30 Cambodian officials in Phnom Penh, Thaksin pledged to fund two small-scale model farms so as to show Cambodian farmers how to adapt to profitable farming, according to a statement released by the Economy and Finance Ministry.
Thaksin did not disclose how much funding he will provide, but suggested he wants to discuss the matter more precisely next month.
Cambodia considers agriculture one of the priority sectors to secure sustainable growth and creation of employment, and to increase income to help reduce poverty in the country.
Some 80 percent of Cambodia's 14 million people are farmers.
Thaksin arrived in Cambodia on Sunday for the second time since being appointed a personal adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and to the government of Cambodia on economic affairs on Oct. 27.
Thaksin is planning to give two more lectures to Cambodian officials on Wednesday on tourism and investment before leaving the country.
Thaksin, ousted from power in 2006 in a bloodless military coup while he was out of the country, was later convicted of corruption.
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